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Nahum 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
Nahum 3
Evangelical Heritage Version
Woe to Nineveh
3 Woe to the city of bloodshed! She is full of lies. She is filled with plunder. She is never without victims.
2 The crack of a whip! The clatter of wheels! Galloping horses and bouncing chariots! 3 Horsemen charging! Glittering swords! Flashing spears! Many wounded! Piles of carcasses! There is no end to the corpses—so many that people stumble over them.
4 All this is because of the many promiscuous deeds of the prostitute, a beautiful and pleasing mistress of all kinds of sorcery,[a] who sells nations into slavery with her promiscuity and clans of people with her sorcery.
5 Beware! I am against you, declares the Lord of Armies. I will strip off your clothes! I will expose your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms. 6 I will pelt you with filth.[b] I will treat you with contempt. I will make you a public spectacle. 7 Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust and say, “Nineveh has been devastated! Who will express grief for her? Where can I find someone to comfort you?”
8 Are you better[c] than Thebes?[d] She was located on the banks of the Nile. The waters surrounded her. Her strength was the sea, and her walls were the water. 9 Cush and Egypt had limitless strength. Put and the Libyans were among her allies. 10 Yet even she went into exile. Even her infants were smashed to pieces on every street corner. They cast lots to win her dignitaries. All her great men were bound with chains.
11 You too will be drunk and will hide yourself. You too will seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortifications will be like fig trees with ripe fruit. If they are shaken, their figs will fall right into the mouth of the one who eats them. 13 Look! The troops among you are women in the face of your enemies.[e] The gates of your land will be wide open. Fire will consume the bars of your gates.
14 Draw water to prepare yourselves for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!
15 There the fire will consume you. There the sword will cut you down. It will devour you as a swarm of grasshoppers would, even if you heap up your numbers like swarms of grasshoppers and locusts. 16 You have increased your merchants so that they are more than the stars of heaven! But they are like grasshoppers, which spread out and fly away. 17 Your courtiers are like locusts. Your field marshals are like swarming locusts! They camp in the walls on a cold day. Yet when the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where they are.
18 King of Assyria, your shepherds are drowsy! Your powerful men slumber! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there are none left to gather together.[f]
19 There is no healing for your wound. Your injury is fatal! All who hear what has happened to you will clap their hands for joy, for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty!
Footnotes
- Nahum 3:4 Or witchcraft
- Nahum 3:6 The Hebrew word is usually a name for idols, so its use in the literal sense here is unusual.
- Nahum 3:8 Or more secure
- Nahum 3:8 Or No Amon, the Egyptian form of the name of the city
- Nahum 3:13 The last phrase may go with the next line.
- Nahum 3:18 Or there is no one to gather them back
Nahum 3
New International Version
Nahum 3
New International Version
Woe to Nineveh
3 Woe to the city of blood,(A)
full of lies,(B)
full of plunder,
never without victims!
2 The crack of whips,
the clatter of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots!
3 Charging cavalry,
flashing swords
and glittering spears!
Many casualties,
piles of dead,
bodies without number,
people stumbling over the corpses(C)—
4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
alluring, the mistress of sorceries,(D)
who enslaved nations by her prostitution(E)
and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against(F) you,” declares the Lord Almighty.
“I will lift your skirts(G) over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness(H)
and the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will pelt you with filth,(I)
I will treat you with contempt(J)
and make you a spectacle.(K)
7 All who see you will flee(L) from you and say,
‘Nineveh(M) is in ruins(N)—who will mourn for her?’(O)
Where can I find anyone to comfort(P) you?”
8 Are you better than(Q) Thebes,(R)
situated on the Nile,(S)
with water around her?
The river was her defense,
the waters her wall.
9 Cush[a](T) and Egypt were her boundless strength;
Put(U) and Libya(V) were among her allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive(W)
and went into exile.
Her infants were dashed(X) to pieces
at every street corner.
Lots(Y) were cast for her nobles,
and all her great men were put in chains.(Z)
11 You too will become drunk;(AA)
you will go into hiding(AB)
and seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees
with their first ripe fruit;(AC)
when they are shaken,
the figs(AD) fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your troops—
they are all weaklings.(AE)
The gates(AF) of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has consumed the bars of your gates.(AG)
14 Draw water for the siege,(AH)
strengthen your defenses!(AI)
Work the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
15 There the fire(AJ) will consume you;
the sword(AK) will cut you down—
they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
multiply like locusts!(AL)
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts(AM) they strip the land
and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts,(AN)
your officials like swarms of locusts
that settle in the walls on a cold day—
but when the sun appears they fly away,
and no one knows where.
18 King of Assyria, your shepherds[b] slumber;(AO)
your nobles lie down to rest.(AP)
Your people are scattered(AQ) on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
19 Nothing can heal you;(AR)
your wound is fatal.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands(AS) at your fall,
for who has not felt
your endless cruelty?(AT)
Footnotes
- Nahum 3:9 That is, the upper Nile region
- Nahum 3:18 That is, rulers
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.